The footballer later signed it for United masseur Rod Thornley. The jerseys were a part of the Rod Thornley collection. A Lionel Messi jersey from his FC Barcelona days was sold for 66,107 Dollars as it massively exceeded the price paid for a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey from the same collection. The Messi jersey, which appeared in the auction, was worn by the Argentine superstar during FC Barcelona’s 0-0 pre-season friendly against Manchester United in August 2012. Meanwhile, the Ronaldo one was a match-issued Real Madrid jersey from the 2014-15 season and it was sold for 10,601 Dollars.
Thorney spent years as part of Manchester United and the position allowed him to build a collection of jerseys and other memorabilia. Pique came into the Manchester United dressing room after the match and took Thornley to the Barcelona dressing room. “At the end of the game Gerard came into our dressing room, grabbed me, and walked me straight into theirs. Messi still had the shirt on his back. On the other hand, the Cristiano Ronaldo jersey was prepared for a game but was not worn by the Portuguese star footballer.
He revealed that he contacted former FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique before the 2012 friendly match and personally asked for Messi’s jersey.
“I messaged Gerard Pique a couple of days before the game and said, ‘I never ask you for anything, but I need Messi’s shirt from this one’.
However, it featured a personal message to Thornley as he previously worked with Ronaldo during his time at United.
